Market Research and the Advent of Doing More with Less

By Flynn Shelton

Oct 22nd, 2016

Blog

Lets be frank: It’s easy to get overwhelmed, in any sphere of life. Throw into play the often rigorous demands of the business climate in which we operate in today, and it can feel like chipping away at a veritable mountain of tasks with no clear path forward.

For those working in the field of market research, this can be especially true.

Market researchers are increasingly becoming inundated with data they often lack the proper time and budget to process, let alone turn into tangible reports beneficial to goals regarding company market share.

65% of market researchers have too many projects for staff to feasibly tackle

50% of market researchers lack the proper budget to properly address projects that are often more costly than anticipated

While this is an alarming trend, the last year has also seen a rise in adoption of an easy to use tool designed with features capable of not only addressing, but directly combating these issues: online survey software.

Let’s look at why this has been the case.

Cutting Market Research Costs Through Survey Software

Of the many issues addressed by respondents in the Quirk report, the biggest and most consistently mentioned were problems with the cost of adequately conducting comprehensive market research.

“Because of reduced budgets, we have been taking on more and more of the ‘grunt’ work – project management, data input,” says one respondent. “This saves us cost, but ultimately is not as motivating for employees who are very skilled managers and should be more focused on strategy, insights, and action.”

While these problems stem from an inability to afford oft-expensive data management software and research methods, they quickly spawn further issues within the workplace such as misuse of talent and disrupted workflow. Fortunately, the simple solution lies in picking a survey software to perform (and even automate) these tasks.

“The right survey software platform allows you to collect your data, analyze it, compile results, and present your findings all in one easy to use application,” says Christian Vanek, CEO of SurveyGizmo. “Covering all these bases with one program saves you the expensive cost of outsourcing data analyses to other parties, and furthermore frees up time to actually use the data to influence company decisions – instead of spending all that time being bogged down by the act of collection itself.”

Using Survey Software to Save Time and Get Results

In the business world, time is money, too. As mentioned, many market researchers are finding it increasingly difficult to find the time to properly conduct meaningful research while still fulfilling their many other duties at hand.

“Being the only research person on staff, who also has various other work assignments, it can be difficult to focus on projects and having time to learn,” says one respondent in the Quirk report. “I find I don’t really have the time or brainpower to commit to learning complex points in the research process.”

Trying to solve these time and personnel constraints can again lead to outsourcing the research, or hiring more staff in the attempt to make a bigger dent in the work load. Both solutions work, but both are also costly – essentially defeating the purpose of saving time when money is being wasted unnecessarily.

A smart approach to managing market research constraints looks to save time and money in equal measure, and online survey software does just that.

Good survey software is designed to handle and process all your data from collection to presentation – at a fraction of the time it would take you to perform the same analysis on your own. By automating much of the data collection and analysis as well as incorporating streamlined and easily customizable presentation settings, the right survey software allows you to conduct market research and focus on bigger company tasks simultaneously.

By using surveys to conduct market research, time ceases constrain how effective your research can be.

Doing Less to Gain More: Why Surveys are the One Stop Shop For Market Researchers

As a platform that continuously saves time and money while still delivering conclusive, thoroughly analyzed results, online survey software is quickly becoming the go-to choice for market researchers who wish to deliver more while doing less.

But how exactly does this software give us a one stop shop for all our market research needs? There’s a lot that a properly designed and managed online survey platform can offer, but some basic, core functions that directly streamline workflows for market researchers include:

Advanced Survey Logic – including question logic, page logic, and skip logic, as well as quotas and disqualifications

Built-in Actions – including automated email sends triggered by respondent behavior as well as pushing/pulling data to and from outside platforms

Easy Integrations – with third party software like Safesforce and Google Sheets, as well as the option to create custom integrations with the tools you already use

Complete Brand Control – including branded URLs and domains as well as custom themes and styling

These tools not only come at an affordable prices (with the right software), but also help keep research in time and on track with company goals – exactly what is needed when important executive decisions and potential market-share is at stake.

Let Your Research Work Just as Hard as You Do

By removing the need to hire an outside party and eliminating outdated research methods at the source of time mismanagement, online survey software is staking a claim as an essential tool for the future of market research.

“With the power behind survey software, and the sheer scope of the automated functions it can perform for your research, it seems almost archaic to utilize more traditional-based research methods in today’s fast-paced corporate climate,” says Vanek. “When your software works as hard on your research as the members of your team, almost anything becomes possible.”

Given the near-ceaseless demand for new and innovative products and services to be researched and released into the market as quickly as possible, possibilities without limits are exactly what today’s market researcher needs.

If you would like to find out how SurveyGizmo’s survey software can directly improve your market research needs at an affordable rate, please visit our Market Research Solutions page to learn more:

If you are intersted in learning in depth about how market research can help your company do more with less, please look into our webinar on Wednesday, 11/9 where we will be discussing the topic in detail: